Quantification of the water-use reduction associated with the transition from coal to natural gas in the US electricity sector

Abstract

The transition from coal to natural gas and renewables in the electricity sector and the rise of unconventional shale gas extraction are likely to affect water usage throughout the US. While new natural-gas power plants use less water than coal-fired power plants, shale gas extraction through hydraulic fracturing has increased water utilization and intensity. We integrated water and energy use data to quantify the intensity of water use in the US throughout the electricity's lifecycle. We show that in spite of the rise of water use for hydraulic fracturing, during 2013-2016 the overall annual water withdrawal (8.74×10 10 m 3 ) and consumption (1.75×10 9 m 3 ) for coal were larger than those of natural gas (4.55×10 10 m 3 , and 1.07×10 9 m 3 , respectively). We find that during this period, for every MWh of electricity that has been generated with natural gas instead of coal, there has been a reduction of ∼1 m 3 in water consumption and ∼40 m 3 in water withdrawal. Examining plant locations spatially, we find that only a small proportion of net electricity generation takes place in water stressed areas, while a large proportion of both coal (37%) and natural gas (50%) are extracted in water stressed areas. We also show that the growing contribution of renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar will reduce water consumption at an even greater magnitude than the transition from coal to natural gas, eliminating much of water withdrawals and consumption for electricity generation in the US.

A snapshot of coal‐fired power generation in Bangladesh: A demand–supply outlook

“…Most of the attention has been focused on receiving climate and air quality benefits by switching from coal‐fired electricity to greener energy production. The amount of water required for coal‐fired electricity production could be saved by the transition to solar or wind energy which results in the saving of billions of gallons of water (Kondash, Patino‐Echeverri, & Vengosh, 2019). It was reported that every megawatt of electricity produced from renewable sources instead of coal saves 10,500 gal of groundwater.…”

“…One way of achieving this is to encourage people to set up solar systems on their roofs and to enable people to sell their excess electricity to the national grid at specific tariffs. It was reported that roofs hold gigantic solar potential in Bangladesh to produce 1,000 MW of power (Kondash et al, 2019).…”

“…To support the currents needs, the Bangladesh Government decided to produce electricity from coal. Scientists proposed that the amount of freshwater consumed by the power plants could be reduced by using silica filter (Kondash et al, 2019; Sasan, Brady, Krumhansl, & Nenoff, 2017). While other researchers reported that the consumed fresh water by the coal fired power plants could be used for five or more cycles by using a hydrotalcite filter (Sasan et al, 2017).…”

The water‐energy nexus in the Middle East: Infrastructure, development, and conflict

“…To understand these interactions among water and energy, scholars have evaluated the amount of energy needed to produce water and conversely the amount of water needed to produce energy across different types of water and energy infrastructure (Gleick, 1994; Kondash, Patino‐Echeverri, & Vengosh, 2019; Mekonnen, Gerbens‐Leenes, & Hoekstra, 2015; Siddiqi & Anadon, 2011). Siddiqi and Anadon (2011) show through a country‐level quantitative assessment of the water‐energy nexus that water infrastructure in many parts of the MENA depends heavily on energy, in contrast to a relatively weak dependence of energy systems on fresh water.…”

“…When it comes to the water footprint for energy consumption in the MENA, many countries depend upon natural gas and oil to generate electricity (Mekonnen et al, 2015). After coal and nuclear, oil and natural gas have the next highest lifecycle water withdrawal intensity of electricity generation, while wind and solar power have lower water footprints (Kondash et al, 2019).…”